Sunday, June 10, 2007

One week down, but still one more ahead

So I got out here last Monday and played my 1st event on Tuesday, which was the 1k rebuys. Sorry I haven't given any write ups in the last week but I have spending alot of time over at the rio. Unfortunately more of my time has been spent railing friends and observing the play late in these tournaments then actually playing myself.

Tuesday- Played the 1k rebuy and Imper1um was at my starting table. LOL @ him wanting to go all-in blind 1st hand. I told him I wasn't going to go all-in blind but I was going to be willing to gamble if I picked up a hand like QJs, 10Js, suited Ace, pairs, etc. 1st hand he shoves blind 35o and I wake up to AK and double after somehow dodging his 46Q flop. Up to 8k and wide-eyed at the prospects of a large stack if I found some hands and Sorel decided to run bad for the 1st time in his life, after Sorel's 57o cracked JJ he shoved 5k or so with 22 and I called with AK again. He flops a set, let the rebuying begin. The rest of the rebuy period, which was 2 hours long, did not go very well and I ended up with just over the minimum of 8,400 and I was in for 10k, 7 rebuys and 2 add-ons which was 2k over the budget I set for myself. Oh well.

After the rebuys were over I dipped down to 5,500 then started to gain some momentum and was back to around 11k when I picked up AdKd in the SB. The worst player at the table opened to 700 @ 100-200 25a from MP, I made it 3500 he shoves for 6,200 and I turn a flush draw but miss for 13k pot vs his KK. Left with about 5k, I pretty much folded and the 1st hand after the break I shoved 4,200 utg+2 with JJ and Imper1um called with AQ in th SB. The blinds were 150-300 25a and my stack was very odd to play so I just decided to ship and see 5 cards. He flopped a Q and GG me.

So I move onto the 1,500 Omaha hi/lo which I won 1 complete pot the entire tournament and I was eliminated shortly into level 3. This wasn't originally on my schedule but I felt it was worth playing since they had around 700 entrants. My desire to win my 1st bracelet definitely influenced this decision.

Wednesday was the 2,000nl which also had a huge field. My 1st table had David Williams and a couple other players who I recognized. I started out pretty aggressive and had chipped up around 5,000 when I 3-bet an 8c2c2h flop with 8h4h (I raised pre-flop) and ran into KK. The pot was about 7,500 with 2 others who had seen the flop also, and I went running hearts for my 1st suckout...oops?

That table broke with about 15 minutes left in the 50-100 level and my new table was very different. I didn't recognize anyone and everyone was between 2k and 4k (we started with 4k) except for the 2 players who were seated to my immediate left. They both had around my 9k give or take a thousand. Seeing as I was fortunate to have the 9k stack I was holding, I decided to establish a tight image and proceeded to only play 5 or 6 hands over the next hour and fifteen minutes until the 100-200 25 ante level. Then the plan was to get aggressive once the antes kicked in.

This pretty much worked and I was up to aroound 15k when I attempted my 1st official blow-up of the tournament. I say official because I know had a great stack where as early I was willing to be aggressive to get a stack. Chris McCormick had been moved to my table a little bit earlier and he opened utg+1 for 650. He had about 13k and I decided to just call utg +2 with 99 and see the flop. The flop came down KK10 w/ 2 diamonds which I really felt was a good flop for me and I called his 1,200 bet on the flop. The turn was awful...another 10 now giving me 9 high. He checked and I decided I was going to try and make it look like I was trying to get value with my king betting 1,400 on turn with plans of betting 3,500-4,000 on river as long as a baby came. I really felt like he would look me up on turn with Ace high but fold on river. Instead he check-raised with his ace high to 3,200 and I folded immediately. So now I feel outplayed having to fold the best hand bc of the board and he limps utg for 200. This is where I decide to get retarded and make it 900 w/ 10d4d utg+1. He calls and I bet 1,500 on KdQd4h flop, which he raises to 5,000 and I end up shipping for 7,500ish more. He calls with KhQh and I river the 8d for a pot worth something around 26k.

Right here I should have gone back to being tight after what the table had just witnessed and waited for some good hands to play or the blinds to get even higher and worth stealing but no, of course I couldn't do this. I had to try and win the tournament in the next 2 hours of course. Long story short, I got chopped back to 15k before the 200-400 50a even started and proceeded to yo-yo between 9k and 15k playing way to many hands when I raised to 1,350 from MP w/ K7cc and the BB shoved for about 4,500 more. Everyone was shoving on me, and I was getting a little frustrated and knew the BB was capable of shipping it in light so I decided to call hoping I was a 40/60 at worst vs a hand like AQ or AJ and maybe even a 60/40 favorite vs QJ or something like that. He ends up having QQ and I lose a race chopping me down to 8k. After paying the blinds and seeing a flop on the button I had 6,100 at the last hand of 200-400 25a.

I opened with Ah10s from the c/o for 1,300 and this old guy in the BB asked me what I had behind and then proceeded to shove about 20,000 chips in the middle very forcefully. I could tell he was faking his strength, and he wanted to show me a wild bluff but I'm to proud for that. I called and he flipped over 2c3d and the board came out QhJh6x4h...river off suit 5 NH sir GG me?

Thursday/Saturday- Thursday was the 1,500 short handed event and Saturday was the 1,500 NLHE, which I decided to group together because they went the same way. Both were crap shoots and I didn't make the 1st break of either one, end of story.

Friday was the 5k pot-limit hold 'em event and after my blow-up in the 2k NL I was really psyched for this. PL strategy is so different then NL strategy and since there is never an ante the play is much much tighter. I knew this and I really needed this tournament to get back in the right mindset of playing tighter then I had been. Early on I played a few pots but never committed a lot of chips during one single hand when I was sitting slightly above the starting stack of 10,000 chips. At 50-100 I raised to 250 from MP with 9h7h and got called by John Hennigan in position, the small blind and John Gale in the BB. The flop came down Q96 with 2 diamonds and I bet 600, to which Hennigan and the SB folded but John Gale raised to 1,800. This board was so draw heavy that I really thought I might be ahead so I decided to call and re-evaluate on the turn. The turn was a complete brick and Gale lead for 2,200 with about 3,200 behind and i decided I likely have the best hand given how wild he plays, and my line would likely make him fold any queen. I was wrong, he called with 96 for 2 pair and I was left with about 2,000 chips.

I grinded so hard from here, playing only 3 or 4 hands the entire 75-150 and a few minutes into the 100-200 levels when I finally doubled up. Sitting on 2,700 chips I decided to raise to 550 from the c/o with A5 and the BB called. The flop was A high, the BB check/called my 800 bet and check called my shove of 1,300 on the turn. Slowplayed KK is no good son....5,500 for me! I get up to 6,400 when this very loose player opened for 700 from UTG+2. This was the 4th or 5th he raised my BB and I looked down to AQ, so I contemplated my options considering my sack and decided to make it 2,200 with 4,200 behind. The LAG player called very quickly and I was somewhat concerned. I decided I could still check/fold the flop if it wasn't a good flop for me, but when the flop came Q97 rainbow I moved all-in for just under a pot size bet. I have never seen anyone call so quickly, I surely thought I was dead to 99 for a set or slow-played KK/AA...but I was wrong, he flipped over the oh so powerful K10 off for a gutty and 1 over, and proceeded to spike a king on the river. I stormed out, didn't say goodbye to 3 friends at the table, didn't wish the players GL like I normally do, didn't attempt to say goodbye to Bax who was on the table behind me either. I was trembling with anger, confused as to what the heck had just happened.

Bax saw me storm out and came after me and asked me what happened, and I told him I'd tell him later but I couldn't talk about it. I got all the way to the taxi stand when I remembered that I had my ticket for Saturday's 1,500 NL in my back pocket. I decided to head back in and un-register, un sure if I wanted to stay here or head home on the next flight out. Fortunately for me the line was a gazillion people long since alot of people were registering for the 5 P.M. stud that was starting in less then an hour so I decided to go talk to Bax and a few others while they were on there break. I managed to cool down a bit and made it back to my hotel room in time to play all the nightly's online.

Every story has a happy ending. My game has been pretty sloppy that few weeks online, and I brought that into the live arena which can get very expensive very quick. So I ended up firing up 7 tournaments for the night and I was completely focused. I ended up bubbling the 100 rebuy on stars for a chip lead pot in a complete cooler hand, but managed to stay focused and not tilt out of the 3 tournaments I had left. I had been grind a 15-20 BB stack for some time in the FTP 30r, a tournament I normally don't play and ended up finishing 12th when my AcQc lost to AsQs all-in pre-flop....such a fun game I know. No worries, I was still grinding the UB bounty with about 30 people left I had just over 10 BB's and I was just reaching the final table of the 100 rebuy on which paid the top 5. I ended up crushing the 100 rebuy, taking it down for 6k with pretty much no resistance at all. I ended up getting a stack on the $ bubble of the bounty, and getting to the final table 2nd in chips. I also crushed this final table until I got heads up vs a complete moron who should probably with draw the 7,800 he got for beating me. I wasn't bitter, still +10k or so online for the night, not to mention a ton of confidence in my game that I regained that night.

I didn't have my usually bloody Sunday, and actually ended up making 2 final tables in Major events today. I took 3rd in the UB 200k for 18k, which was really disappointing but not as disappointing as taking 9th in the 200 rebuys on stars for just under 3k. I got retardedly un-lucky in that tournament and really feel like I should have at least ended up getting short handed if not winning the damn thing....oh well, fun game we play.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week here in Vegas. Tommorrow I'm playing the 2,500 NL, Tuesday I will likely be online if I don't make day 2 of the 2,500 as I don't care to play the 1,500 shootout and Wednesday is the 5,000 NL which is my favorite event of the series, just ahead of the 1k rebuys. thursday is a 1,500 PLO, Friday 2k NL, Saturday is another 1,500 NL circus, Sunday is a 3,000 NL which I think will end up being a pretty good tournament despite being on Sunday, and Monday is my last event for this trip the 2,500 NL short handed and of course I may play the 1,500 razz on sunday if I bust from the 3k NL event.

I feely really good about my game right now, better then I have since December probably. I was extremely focused today online and plan on having a great tournament tomorrow focusing on playing mistake free poker and switching gears when I need to. Good luck to everyone else playing in Vegas, hopefully I will have good news to report very shortly.

Sigh, I went out with AQ on Q 7 5 flop with the field only needing to be halved for the bubble... but, I WAS drawing dead to a set of 7's, at least I got the pleasure of analyzing my horrible read instead of steaming over a suckout I guess.